George Michaelson wrote in response to a posting by Steve Thompson:
> 
> I think it makes a *lot* of sense for the ASX to have a declared
interest in
> these proceedings. You're already in a relationship with many of the
people
> who expect to have access to online names.
> 
While I agree that the ASX can be a very useful player in the
organisation and management of domain naming services,  there may well
be a significant audience who fall outside the ASX's area of interest. 
I refer here to proprietary businesses, sole traders, partnerships,
unincorporated joint ventures and the like.  These businesses probably
expect to have equal right to "commercial" domain naming and
registration services.

I would tend to disagree with this statement for the following reasons:

* The ASX isn't just interested in "the large end of town". We recognise
that the small end of town might become the large end of town and as such or
community of interest extends all the way down to the sole trader. We don't
directly deal with these people, but we must always be aware of the
directions we take so as to not alienate people away from dealing with us. 

* Due to the closeness of the ASC and the ASX with respect to policies and
governance, we are also tasked with undertakings from different government
bodies to bring into practice the actual laws that are gazetted into
corporation law. This closeness to the business community and the government
puts us in the interesting, but exciting position to move this debate
forward. 


Perhaps the various Business Names authorities at a State level could
also make a worthwhile contribution, and perhaps the ASX could provide
some useful insights into deling with these bodies.

Could something as simple (or should that be complex) as allocating an
Internet domain name as part of the process of registring a business
name work? 

We have been having internal discussion on the issuing of X509 certificates
for company seals instead of the current method, and I imagine the issuing
of the right to use a domain name could also become a possibility in respect
to this instance. 



---
Stephen Thompson
Business Systems Architect
Australian Stock Exchange
+61-2-9227-0820